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Monday, July 09, 2012

Wendy Wax: Sometimes a Detour Can Lead to a Better Road

I’ve been a novelist for many years now – but that was not
the path I started out on. I began my
career with a degree in journalism and worked for many years in radio,
television and film both behind and in front of the camera. (My claim to fame
during this time was hosting a live radio show called ‘Desperate &
Dateless’ back when I was both!)

If you had asked me at 18 where I saw myself as an adult it
would have been somewhere in the world of broadcasting. But life almost never
takes us where we think it will. For me, there was no catastrophic event that
made me change course. Instead, as I
started a family and moved with my husband, I realized that my love of reading
and books and the passion I always had for writing might actually be a valid
career choice and not just a pastime or an out of reach dream.

When we first meet Maddie, Nicole and Avery in TEN BEACH
ROAD, they’re forced from their paths by a Bernie Madoff style Ponzi scheme
that leaves them in financial ruin. The
three of them, who start out as strangers, are left with only co-ownership of a
dilapidated beachfront mansion on Pass-a-Grille in St. Petersburg Beach,
Florida. With no other paths open, the three
take what they think will be a detour in their lives to spend one sweat-soaked
summer renovating the once fabulous Mediterranean Revival style home that’s all
they have left. But as in my own life, sometimes the detour becomes the better
road.

In my first ever sequel, OCEAN BEACH, Maddie, Nicole and
Avery are back and what started as a one-time thing, a minor detour, appears to
be a truly viable path. Now the women
are asked to renovate another home, this time an Art Deco Streamline on Miami’s
South Beach that belongs to an aging former Vaudeville star with a tragic past
and a secret agenda. But when they arrive to get their first glimpse of the
house they’ll be working on, they discover that the network has changed its
focus. Their new program, Do Over,
isn’t a renovation series but a reality TV show and the cameras are aimed at
them. The bonds they formed with each other and the new careers they fell into
have become not just something to cope with, but something to embrace, and
nurture and grow.

I think I was drawn to write about women who are forced down
a new path for financial reasons because I’ve seen it happen to so many of my
friends throughout this tough economic environment. And because I’ve seen so many of them turn
what could have been a disaster into a dream come true. I truly believe that if you keep an open mind
and allow yourself to see the detours and paths that are open to you, you will
find the right road, even though it may not be the one you thought you were
looking for.

For the women of TEN BEACH ROAD and OCEAN BEACH, this is not
just true in their working lives, but in their personal lives as well. The men they thought they wanted might not be
the right ones, and the ones they didn’t even notice might be. The mother-daughter relationships they
thought of one way have the ability to grow and change and the women they
thought so different from themselves could turn out to their best friends in
life. Of course, the internal struggle for
each of them is to learn to be open to all those possibilities.

For me, writing a sequel to TEN BEACH ROAD was a
detour. OCEAN BEACH was not originally
planned – and in fact I had to put down another book I was working on to write it. But like most of my little detours, it’s turned
into a wonderful experience. So who
knows, maybe writing an ongoing series is my new path!

How about you? Are you where you thought you’d be when you
were first starting out? Did some of
life’s curveballs send you off on a detour that changed your life? Or are you just now considering a new path
that has opened up before you? Share your thoughts for a chance to win an autographed copy of TEN BEACH ROAD and OCEAN BEACH!

A most thought provoking post. My life took an abrupt turn a few months ago with a diagnosis for a serious and life threatening illness for which I am presently under treatment. this has taught me to appreciate life, small things and to think of tomorrow with greater insight.

Thanks for this lovely post today. It has awakened my innermost thoughts about life and the paths we seek and how our life is shaped by our choices. Sometimes we choose wisely and well. But sometimes there is room for improvement and change. Now I am at a crossroads.

I started in one career, Architecture, because I love to draw. Now I am working at an art store and absolutely love it! I will be teaching classes in the spring. Funny how life starts out one way, then heads down a totally different path. I love your books Wendy! Your new one sounds fantastic! Plus, the cover invokes wonderful memories for me of days spent at the beach!

Life is so totally not what I thought it was going to be when I was younger. I got thrown *alot* of curveballs: health wise, romantic, financial... and I'm now the complete opposite of the "life plan" that I had devised :) But... its all for the better. I do wish I could change or tweak a few things but otherwise I'm happy!

Both books look like wonderful Summer reads.In life I feel I am still on a journey, though I know life is really one big journey. There have been some surprises and detours but I am learning from them. The journey is even better with my family along. I have accomplished some goals and others are still in the making :)

I've had to choose at several forks in the roads, but I've only had one big detour. In Fact it may have been a road block. But for other than financial reasons, I'm glad it happened. I'll have to get on the road again, maybe I'll like this one better.sallans d at yahoo dot com

Began with nursing school/hospitals/marriage/children/school age/volunteering/writing for community paper. Volunteering led to aschool board nomination, district awards,and two awards named for me. Volunteer totals: Church-38 years, Schools-27 years, and Com-munity-uncounted hours. The family's volun-teer history began with my mother and is now into the fourth generation as children and grandchildren are now included. Who knew this would come about? Wouldn't change for the world!

This book sounds great. Loved the first book from the series, and have been waiting for the next book. My life is different because I never intended on having children. I wanted to just have fun and live life. When I met my husband, everything changed. I do not regret this, my kids are my world.Thanks for the great giveaway.Christinebails@yahoo.com

Love the article! I never thought that I would be in my thirties and starting a new career. I thought that I would be an Athletic Trainer teaching at a high school. Instead I am now working on a new career in Library Science a field I would never have considered.